What's Your Biggest Fear?
by AbsentFromReality
Summary: -ON HOLD- Batman sends the team on a mission into an unknown factory full of many unknown things. But before they can figure anything out, The Joker shows up with a question; what's your biggest fear?
1. Disappear

"Wally and Artemis sitting in a tree. K-I-S-" Robin sang before Megan grabbed him and placed her hand over the young hero's mouth. She waited for a few seconds, and then slowly moved her hand away.

"What was that for?" Robin asked. Right when Megan was going to state the obvious, Robin cut her off and continued. "Oh yeah, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" He said very quickly, smirking and giggling away.

"You little-" Wally started, and then stopped to sigh. It was no use; Robin was going to say stuff like that if he liked it or not.

Robin pointed at the two and giggled again; dashing out of the room only to be followed by a blushing, but irritated Wally. The rest of the team listened to them bicker down the hallway until they could no longer hear them anymore.

"Sorry; I tried stopping him." Megan protested to Artemis who was still standing across from her. "It's hard to remember sometimes, but he is only thirteen."

"Yeah, I guess." Artemis shrugged. She had been listening to Robin's 'teasing' for such a long time; she was just used to it. But Wally on the other hand, was not.

Wally and Robin came rushing back into the room a few minutes later. Surprisingly, Wally was out of breath, while Robin was standing there with a mischievous smirk on his face.

Before anyone could comment or make a joke, the alarm went off. The team headed quickly to see what Batman had in store for them.

"... and your job is to find whatever weapons are inside and destroy them. The factory contains a high amount of chemicals, so be careful. There are three floors and a basement." Batman stated while pacing back and forth in front of the computer screens. He appeared to be either nervous or irritated. "This should only take a few hours. You should be back before the end of the day."

The team nodded in response, and watched Batman walk over to the zeta beam to go wherever he was going.

Aqualad turned to face his team members one at a time; Artemis who was standing next to Kid Flash, then Robin, who looked quite content, and then to Megan who was smiling at Super Boy.

"For the first part of the mission, I think its best we split up into 3 teams. It would get the job done a lot quicker." Aqualad stated as he crossed his arms against his chest. "Robin and I will take the first floor, Megan and Super Boy look throughout the second, and Kid Flash and Artemis search the third. The building contains a basement, but I feel better if we all go together to search down there." Aqualad finished as Robin walked up to stand next to him.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Super Boy asked clueless.

Nobody really knew the answer to that considering Batman never said what specific kind of weapon. If there were bombs or guns or ammo, they figured that those would be considered weapons. But Batman did say something about chemicals; so was that the weapon?

"Anything that looks like a weapon." Aqualad answered, as he and Robin ran to the zeta beams.

The rest of the team shrugged, and followed right behind them one at a time.

...

When team arrived, they glanced up at the factory. It wasn't very high up, had few windows, and was extremely dirty. Vines grew up the walls with unknown purple buds sticking out everywhere. Robin knew they looked familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Megan camouflaged herself and went inside the building through an open window on the third floor first to make sure the coast was clear. A few minutes later she returned and nodded her head indicating that the rest of the team could enter.

"It's weird; there aren't any guards or anyone anywhere. At least from what I saw." Megan said as she carelessly pushed the door wide open.

As soon as everyone had entered the building; their mouths opened in a shape of an O. The walls were a light blue, with a few cracks in the paint here and there.

"Whoa, this place is huge!" Kid Flash said in surprise. He hadn't expected one floor to be so big. "Forget a few hours; it might take days!"

"Well you guys heard Aqualad; go with your partner up to your floor." Robin interrupted as he and Aqualad ran off to began searching.

"Let's hurry up and get this over with." Super Boy stated as he and Megan quickly ran up a flight of stairs to the second floor.

Kid Flash and Artemis were the only ones left still standing there. Artemis didn't seem like she wanted to budge, while Kid Flash was ready to be up and running. Literally.

"Uh, something wrong?" Wally asked suspiciously. He eyed her up and down, noticing that her eyes had been glued to the floor as if she was hiding something. He absolutely hated when she did that.

"I just have a bad feeling about this building. But let's hurry up and go." Artemis quietly answered while she slowly walked towards the stairs. Before she could put her foot on the first step, Wally ran towards her and picked her up. She gasped in surprise, but allowed him to do it.

"Sorry, you walk too slowly." Kid Flash joked as Artemis rolled her eyes.

In a matter of seconds, they were already at the third floor of the building. He sat her down and gazed around the humungous dark room. There was a long black counter against the wall full of tons of test tubes with mysterious bright green liquids. A few brown bar stools were pulled up to the counter. Walking forwards and passing the counter, he spotted an odd object a few feet away from them.

"It sort of looks like a telescope." Wally said as he observed the object. It was about 4 feet tall, light gray, in color, and had many different sized knobs all down the side of it.

When he didn't hear Artemis reply, he turned around to find that she was gone.

"Artemis?" He called out, completely clueless to where she could have gone in 5 seconds. Since he didn't receive a response, he repeated himself again except louder this time. "Artemis!"

Something didn't quite feel right. His gut was telling him to run, but all he could do was stand in fear when he heard a loud, dark laugh. He felt like he was being watched, so he slowly turned around to find his attacker right in his face.

Then his body fell with a thud to the old, dirty floor.

...

"Super Boy, come look at this!" Megan yelled from across the room.  
In front of her stood what looked like a huge coffin. It was leathery and a dark brown, and had some type of writing on it in another language.

"Creepy." Super Boy commented when he saw it up close. He leaned over to look at the sides and bottom for something he could read or understand, but was unsuccessful. "What kind of factory is this anyway?"

"Batman never exactly told us." She replied, and left to look for something else to suspect.

After not hearing Megan talk or her footsteps in awhile, Super Boy suddenly felt like something was wrong.

"Megan, where are you?" He called out, hopeful to receive an answer. He instead heard nothing.

"Mea-!" Super Boy started, but was cut off by a blow from a crowbar to his head.

...

"We've haven't found anything; should we contact the others to see what they have found?" Aqualad asked Robin as they walked towards the door they first entered.

"Yeah, it's already been an hour. I'm sure they've found something by now." Robin stated as he and Aqualad ran up to the second floor.

"You get Megan and Super Boy; I'll go get KF and Artemis." Robin said as he turned around and ran up to the third floor.

"Super Boy! Megan! Can you hear me?" Aqualad called out into the air.

He figured they couldn't hear him just yet, so he just kept walking. He passed something that resembled a coffin, which sent a shiver down his spine. Turning the corner, he spotted what seemed like hundreds of boxes stacked up on each other. There was writing on the sides of some of the boxes, while others were stamped with a seal of approval from some company or something. He had no idea what any of them said considering that it was written in a foreign language.

Aqualad was going to try to open one of the boxes, when a swift dark shadow caught his eye. He quickly turned around, only to see nothing there. But not convinced that it really was nothing, he walked to where he first saw the shadow. He kept walking, keeping alert until he came to a corner. He waited a minute before slowly turning the corner; but did not expect to see what he saw next.

"No, it cannot be!" Aqualad gasped just as the shadow grabbed him and hit him hard on the head.

...

"Something isn't right." Robin thought out loud. He hadn't heard anything from any of his teammates, including Aqualad who was just with him and Megan who linked them altogether mentally for a while now. For now, all he could do was keep searching.

"Can anyone hear me?" Robin said as he suddenly stopped walking and stood very still in terror.

He could hear someone that was fairly close, laughing. Unfortunately, this wasn't just anyone's laugh. That laugh had caused Robin so much pain and suffering in the past. That laugh would echo inside his head for days. That laugh drove him insane ever time he even thought about it. He hated that laugh with a burning passion; and right away knew who it belonged to.

It was unmistakably the Joker's.


	2. You Bastard

"Joker! What have you done to my friends?" Robin asked, putting himself in an attack-pose. He was definitely not expecting to see him here; Batman would have surely warned them if he knew.

The Joker just cackled, completely ignoring Robin. He twisted his hands in front of him, like all villains seemed to always do, and suddenly stopped laughing. Instead, his face held a grin that went from ear to ear. In one swift motion, The Joker managed to pull out and open a small silver pocket knife.

"Wanna play a game, little birdie?" The Joker taunted.

Robin jumped back in terror as The Joker started jabbing his knife towards the hero's chest and neck. He started laughing again, which was highly irritating. Robin kept dodging the blows, until he eventually had an opportunity to kick the knife out of the psychopath's hand and he took it. The knife flew across the room; skidding against the floor and making a noise that caused Robin to cringe.

"Oh, it's always the hard way with you and Batsy." The Joker stated as he put both his hands behind his back. His laughing was getting louder and darker by the second.

Robin eyed him suspiciously, and backed up in case he tried to do something stupid like he always did. Something told him to run; but his feet stayed glued to the ground.

The Joker shrugged, pulled out a crowbar, and whacked Robin straight across the head before his mind even had time to register what happened. The Boy Wonder was unconscious before his body hit the ground.

[back at the cave]

"It's almost seven, why hasn't the team arrived home yet?" Red Tornado asked Batman as he walked up to him.

"I don't know. I've been trying to get a hold of Robin the last hour, but I think the factory is blocking my radio signals." Batman replied as he searched things up on his computer.

"Or, something bad has happened." Black Canary finished, standing behind Batman, skimming over the random news articles over his shoulder.

Batman grunted in response, but he knew that the team could keep themselves safe. At least, he believed so. They had proven to him that they were worthy on just about every mission; so what was so different about this one? They bonded, knew how to work together, and they all were smart; smart enough to know how to get themselves out of bad situations.

"Should we go check out the factory just to be safe?" Black Canary offered as she bit her nails nervously. She crossed her arms and stood there silently waiting for an answer.

"No." Batman stated plainly. "They are their own team now; they don't need our help anymore."

"I thought that was what the Justice League was all about; helping one another? And what makes you think that they're fine if you can't even get a hold of them?" Black canary asked confused, but knew that she was right.

"Because I'm the goddamn Batman. End of discussion." Batman retorted as Black Canary gave him a shocked look. Even Red Tornado seemed to be taken aback.

"Well, whatever." Black Canary said as she walked back out of the room. She was in no mood to deal with 'The Goddamn Batman'.

[hours later; way past midnight]

"Ugh..." Robin groaned as he rubbed his eyes.

He was all sweaty, and knew for sure that there was a huge knot on his forehead. He stretched his arms way above his head and yawned. He quickly closed his mouth and opened his eyes to see nothing but darkness. Blinking in surprise and waiting for his eyes to adjust, he looked around the room to see that he was in a dungeon type room with no light except for one light bulb that hung off a very thin string above him. Then he suddenly remembered what had happened.

"Joker! Show yourself!" Robin yelled as he attempted to jump up and run, only to be pulled straight back down to the ground by a chain that was holding on tightly onto his left ankle.

The Joker stepped in front of Robin, barely an inch out of his reach and underneath the light bulb. Robin could see The Joker's smiling, wrinkled white face. His eyes were green as grass; lips as red as cherries.

"You wouldn't let me stab you, so you chose the hard way." The Joker stated, angering Robin. "I've been standing here for hours waiting for you to wake up."

"What have you done with my friends?" Robin asked once again, since he did not receive an answer last time he asked. But he definitely was creeped out by what The Joker had just said.

"Let's not worry about them right this second. Let's talk about you, Robin." The Joker said, putting a lot of emphasis on 'you'.

"What about me?" Robin asked, confused. "Why am I even here?"

"Don't worry little birdie, your entire team is inside this building." The Joker said as he started laughing uncontrollably.

"Quit calling me that! Batman will be here any minute and I'm sure you won't find that as funny!" Robin said as he gritted his teeth.

"Sure." was all The Joker said as he slowly turned around and backed out of the room.

Robin heard what sounded like a door creaking open, and unfortunately, The Joker still laughing. Something slid across the room towards Robin and landed right in front of him. After closer inspection, Robin's eyes filled with terror and he jumped back as far as the chain would let him. He covered his face and was prepared to hold his breath, when the buds quickly opened and a green colored gas filled the air all around him. Some must have entered his system, because he soon started giggling away. A few seconds later, his young, fragile body hit the ground with a thump.

The Joker shut the door, and walked towards the next. He could hear male and female screams and cries of pain coming from all directions as he strolled down the hallway. It made him feel butterflies in his stomach, and happiness in his heart. Next up was the one they called Kid Flash, who sounded more like Kid Mouth to him.

"What's your deal anyways?" Kid Flash asked, obviously beyond mad. His whole body was on the wall, held by thick silver chains that kept him from running or anything like that.

The Joker just smiled at him, happy as can be because he was finally going to be able to shut him up. He slung a handful of the buds towards the speedster; and since he was unaware of what had just happened to Robin, didn't even attempt to hold his breath. He hit the ground with a thud, just like before, laughing away.

The third room was oddly quit, so until of making small talk, The Joker opened the door just a crack to see a green girl still slumped on the ground. He threw another handful of buds at the body; which caused them to bounce every which way. When they opened, the girl coughed loudly a few times and a wide smile appeared on her face.

"On to the next." The Joker said to himself as he noticed that the screams and cries were getting quieter and quieter. He was almost sad that they were disappearing.

The Joker opened the next door wide open and walked straight in to see 'The Super Boy' up close. He was chained by both arms in the opposite directions, not allowing him to sit or walk in any direction without pulling one of his arms too much.

"Go on; do it. I dare you." Super Boy challenged as he narrowed his eyes. He wasn't as upset as the others; but obviously more angry. His face was blood red; with dark purple veins popping out of his neck.

"Your wish is my command!" The Joker shouted, causing Super Boy to jump a little.

The Joker, being the twisted sadistic man he was, threw the buds a few at a time directly at the chained boy's face. He threw some extra buds just in case he was slightly immune or something. They all puffed out one by one, slowly causing Super Boy to laugh longer and louder with each bud. The Joker was pleased, so he left to move on the rest of the team.

"Four down, two to go."

He entered the second to last door, to find a boy who smelled strongly of fish, in the corner of the room. His hands were tied together, behind his back, and his feet tied tightly in front of him. He was unconscious, but The Joker believed that he would still be infected.

"This just is too easy." The Joker said, shaking his head, and tossing about ten buds towards Aqualad.

At first, the boy didn't even respond to the gas, but after about a minute, he let out a few chuckles.

The Joker breathed a breath of relief. He continued to walk down the hallway quickly; almost running. He soon stepped into the next room, realizing that the door was already wide open, and found a blonde girl with ripped clothes. She had heard the others' final screams and cries, then the heartbreaking silences that followed shortly afterwards. Her left ankle was chained to the ground, just like Robin's, but she had managed to untie her hands.

"Trying escape? Well I-" The Joker began, but was interrupted by the girl.

"What's wrong with you?" Artemis screamed, tears still steaming down her pale cheeks. Her voice was so loud that it echoed off the walls."Killing innocent kids; for fun?"

"Oh they aren't dead." The Joker assured her, grinning widely.

Artemis slowly tried to calm herself so she wouldn't cry as much, but it didn't appear to be working. She squinted her eyes, almost entirely closing them, and considered the words that she had just heard. She didn't know whether she could believe him or not, but why would he lie about that if she really was about to die.

The room was silent for a few moments since Artemis never gave a reply. But eventually, The Joker stepped back a few steps, and without warning, hit her in the face with a fistful of buds.

Artemis rubbed her face vigorously in pain and held her breath. The buds were prickly, and she felt a couple drops of blood trickle down her cheeks. The green smoke seeped out of the buds and surrounded her; making it impossible to breathe. When she couldn't hold it anymore, she took one long breath and quickly regretted it.

"You...bastard..." Artemis chuckled as she laid herself against the cold floor.

Her face was turning even paler. She soon stopped talking and laughing; instead just smiled as her body curled up into a tight ball.

"Thanks!" The Joker said sarcastically, shutting the door on his way out.

The Joker then walked back and forth, looking in each room at his captives. With each happy grin he saw, and with ever giggle he heard, his smile grew wider and wider.


	3. Daddybats Activated

**A/N- Sorry for the extremely short chapter, I just didn't know what to write. But more is too come! ;) & I know Batman is a little out of character; please don't kill me. D; **

"It's past midnight Batman, we need to go look for them." Black Canary pleaded as she realized the time. She had a scared look on her tan face. Her blonde hair was up in a messy bun; which was the first time anyone had seen it like that.

Batman thought about it for a moment. Maybe the mission was too much for them to handle. Or maybe they were just still looking.

"How do you know that they need our help?" Batman asked as he turned to face her.

"You haven't talked to any of them. It's way past the time they were supposed to come home. You can't trace them to where they are. It's obvious that they are in trouble." Black Canary said. "And I'm going to go look whether you're coming or not." She crossed her arms against her chest, and gave him an agitated look.

"I will go." Red Tornado said as he appeared out of nowhere.

The two turned towards Batman, and waited for a reply. Batman eventually sighed in defeat.

"Fine. We'll give them one more hour and then we'll go." Batman replied, getting back to whatever he was doing before Black Canary had come in.

Red Tornado and Black Canary were unsure, but silently agreed to wait. Black Canary had a bad feeling before the team even departed and left, but she kept her mouth shut. Red Tornado must have caught on to what she was feeling, because he also felt like something was wrong. They walked into the living room in the cave to give Batman some time to think.

[Batman to Alfred]

"I'm not going to admit this to anyone except to you Alfred, but I'm really worried about the team. Especially Robin for some reason." Batman admitted when he realized that Black Canary and Red Tornado were out of hearing range. "I mean I know that they can handle themselves, but something just doesn't seem right."

Alfred waited for a few seconds until he could find the right words to say in reply. He didn't want to anger or upset Batman, but he knew he had to be truthful. Daddybats was definitely kicking in.

"Well if you really feel that something has gone wrong, why haven't you left to check it out yet?" Alfred asked, looking Batman in the eyes.

Batman didn't really have answer to that, so he sat there silent for a minute. True, he was worried, but honestly he worried about every mission; big and small. He was scared that one day someone would get seriously hurt or even killed.

"I don't really know. To give them space I guess." Batman replied as he looked down at the black floor.

"By the looks of it, I say you leave to go find them right now." Alfred stated as he tossed the keys to the Bat Mobile towards Batman. He caught them in one quick motion and stuffed them in his pocket. Smiling, he stood up to go get Black Canary and Red Tornado.

[back in the kitchen]

"Let's go." Batman said as he walked into the empty living room. He narrowed his eyes, and walked into the kitchen to see that it too was lifeless. So were the hallways, the training room, the library, and the room where the zeta beams were stored. He looked up, noticing that the zeta beams were glowing, indicating that they were recently used. "Damn it!" Batman said quietly under his breath.

Turns out, Black Canary and Red Tornado had left just before Batman walked into the living room where they were at first.

"Fine, more Bat Mobile room for me." Batman mused as he dug the keys out of his pocket.

**A/N- Since this is a pretty big inference to make, I'm just going to go ahead and tell you that the poison didn't kill them; but instead is going to cause them to have hallucinations. Each chapter tells it in blah blah's POV, then the next person until all six have shown their POV. But remember; the next 6 chapters are technically happing at the same time. ;)**


	4. Robin's POV

**A/N- I'm SO sorry for taking like two months to finish writing this story. I've been really busy. -_-**

Robin woke up to bright lights shining directly into his masked eyes. He could hear the crowd yelling; but neither cheering nor booing. Standing up, he realized that he was in the center of a circus tent, and everyone was staring a little to the right and above him. As soon as he glanced up to see what all the fuss was about, he saw what they had been looking at. Within seconds, the male and female hit the floor with full force.

"Mom! Dad!" Robin called out, trying to run over to them, but couldn't. His body wouldn't listen to him when he told it to move. "No, no, no!"

Then everything disappeared; darkness surrounded the young boy. He tried to adjust his eyes by blinking constantly, but was unsuccessful. A light suddenly appeared from across the room, and so did his parents.

"Mom, Dad!" Robin called out in joy as he ran to them but was stopped by his father's hand that pushed him back.

Robin gave them a confused look; unaware of why they weren't all over him with hugs and kisses.

"It's your fault we died! You could have saved us!" His mother screamed in agony.

"You're a failure!" His father angrily yelled; his face turning red.

"You're nothing!"  
"We never loved you!"  
"I'm glad we died so we don't have to look at you anymore!"  
"I hate you!"

Robin couldn't believe his ears. He fell to his knees and clutched his head in his hands. Tears swelled up in his eyes and quickly slid down his cheeks; sort of like a river flowing into the ocean. His heart broke in half, and this time it was even worse than when the tragedy had actually happened.

"What-" Robin started, but stopped as he looked up to notice that he alone in the room. Not one body in sight.

Robin stood up, still upset, and walked out of the tent to get some fresh air. He looked to the left; then to the right. There was nobody anywhere. The sky was a dark shade of gray and full of clouds that covered up any sunlight that might try to seep through. Robin considered what to do next, eventually just deciding to keep walking down the street until he found someone that could explain what was going on.

After about two or three minutes of walking, Robin stopped dead in his tracks. There were two dark brown coffins that were lying underneath a green tent cover about 20 feet away. He mustered up enough courage to run as fast as he could up to the coffins. Each had its own bright gold plaque on the top of it. One plaque read 'Mary Grayson', the other 'John Grayson'. The handles on each side of the coffins were just screaming at him to open them up. Robin ran his hand down the side of the first one, and then stopped as it reached a handle. He slowly opened the coffin to find it empty. Confused, he opened the other one to find it empty as well.

"They aren't here little birdie." The Joker said as he put his hand on Robin's left shoulder.

"Joker! What's going on?" Robin asked as he pulled away and stood in an attack pose.

"Hmm, nothing much." The Joker mused as he pulled out a sparkling silver pocket knife. He twirled it a few times around his fingers, threw it up in the air, and caught it perfectly on the handle. He did a small bow; cackling away.

"Did you touch my parents?" Robin asked loudly. His face was bright red, full of anger and hatred. "I swear Joker; if you did ANYTHING to them, I will kill you!"

"You don't mean that, Robin." The Joker replied as continued laughing and twirling the knife in his hand.

"Robin…" A soft voice groaned from behind the two.

Robin quickly turned around to see Batman, without his cowl on, lying in a pool of his own dark red blood. There was multiple stab wounds all over his chest and one long slash across his neck. Robin pushed The Joker back with all his might and bent down to see Batman closer.

"How… why…" Robin stuttered as he trembled violently.

Robin then closed his eyes tightly; trying with all his might to hold back the tears just begging to be let out. He opened his eyes a few seconds later when the laughing had finally stopped and looked around. The Joker was gone. Thunder clapped; with cold rain following right behind. Then the tears just poured out.

As Robin stared at Bruce Wayne's lifeless body, his vision became blurry and his body numb. He held his head with his hands and cried. Within seconds, he blacked out and fell on the ground.

When Robin woke up, he wasn't lying in the street; but instead he was lying in Black Canary's arms. She was gently shaking him; indicating Robin that she was trying to wake him up. Had this all just been a nightmare? He was in a dark room and he could hear his teammates screaming and Black Canary happy that he had woken up.

"What happened?" Robin asked while rubbing his eyes; the images of The Joker and Batman still playing in his mind.

"I'll explain when we get you all home. Right now, stay in here and wait until I come get you. I have to go get the others."

[To be continued]


	5. Kid Flash's POV

WYBF: Kid Flash

"Dude, you're so gay!"  
"Kid Flash? More like Kid Slash!"  
"I'm sure that's what your boyfriend calls you!"  
"Go back to wherever you came from, fag!"

Kid Flash backed up from the group of jocks and ran away before they could say anything else. But unfortunately, the damage had already been done. The clock read three; so the bell should be ringing soon anyways. It was only his first day at his new high school and he was already labeled as 'gay.'

"So much for enjoying school." Kid Flash mumbled as he burst through the front doors of the school.

"And where do you think you're going?" An old man said as he put his left arm out and clothes-lined Kid Flash, causing him to lose his balance and fall down the stairs.

"Um, who are you?" Kid Flash said as he stood up, rubbed his head, and walked back up the stairs towards the old man.

"Your principal. Now go back to class before I write you up!" The old man yelled while walking to the door and holding it open for Kid Flash.

"But isn't school over? It's three o'clock." Kid Flash asked confusedly.

"Do you see anyone else leaving?" Kid Flash looked around, and to his surprise, not one person was seen anywhere. "School isn't over."

Kid Flash couldn't believe his ears; but he was done arguing. He sighed while walking slowly back to his classroom full of jerks. Hesitating, he slowly opened the door.

"Hey look, Kid Slash is back!" Somebody yelled from the back.

The class roared in laughter as Kid Flash sat down in the only open desk at the front of the room.

"Now class, you'll need to pick a partner for the project that we will be doing today." The scrawny, young teacher with blonde hair announced while handing out papers.

Kid Flash groaned and slid down in his chair.

"Hey, you're the Kid Flash right?" A female voice asked from behind Kid Flash.

Kid Flash quickly turned to see a blonde Korean girl with dark brown eyes and tan skin. Kid Flash shook his head yes and smiled.

"Yeah, and who are you beautiful?" Kid Flash asked with a smirk on his face.

"Artemis. Want to be my partner?" The girl answered as she smiled back.

Kid Flash narrowed his eyes a tad; something about the girl and that name rang a bell. He got up to stand next to her desk so he could see her better.

"Sure... so what are we supposed to do?" Kid Flash asked Artemis after he read the paper over and still had no idea what to do.

When he didn't hear her respond, he looked up to see that he was no longer in the classroom, but the gym instead. He looked around the gym and admired the decorations that hung everywhere. There were steamers and confetti lying around on the ground, a huge purple banner that read 'DANCE', a table full of food that he could eat up in under a minute, and tons of teenagers all dressed in dresses or suits.

"Wally! I'm so happy you could make it." Artemis said as Kid Flash almost ran into her.

"Uh, my pleasure." Kid Flash replied, noticing that he was in a dark black suit with a yellow & red lightning bolt tie.

"Meet my boyfriend, Cameron." Artemis said as she turned her boyfriend around to face Kid Flash.

"Icicle Jr.?!" Kid Flash asked in disbelief. "Do you have any idea who this idiot it?"

"What'd you call me?" Icicle Jr. asked as he walked in front of Artemis.

"An I-d-i-o-." Kid Flash started but was caught off by a punch to the face from Icicle Jr.

When Kid Flash opened his eyes; he realized that he was in a forest instead. As far as he could tell, he was the only human around. Trees were the only thing visible for what seemed like miles. He heard the crickets chirping and a howling in the distance. At first, he hadn't realized how close the howling was until he heard it again. Kid Flash jumped when he realized that Wolf was standing behind him, gritting his teeth and growling.

"Hey buddy, what's wrong?" Kid Flash asked as he stretched his hand out to pet the wild animal who responded by biting it. "Ow!"

Wolf growled again, compelling Kid Flash to run as fast as he could away from the animal. But when began to run, he realized that he couldn't run at his top sped. In fact, he was just running a normal human speed.

"Come on!" Kid Flash yelled at himself as he jumped over fallen trees and through thorny bushes.

Suddenly, Kid Flash tripped over an un-seen humongous branch and skidded to a stop. His arms and legs were severely bloody and for some reason, he couldn't stand himself up. It was almost if his legs had completely quit working.

"What's your problem wolf?" Kid Flash taunted when Wolf slowly walked towards his crippled body.

Wolf showed his teeth one last time and smacked Kid Flash hard in the face with his claw filled paw. Everything then went dark and silent.

"Wally?!" A young voice screamed as she shook the bed that held her son. "Wally please wake up!"

Kid Flash moaned softly and opened his eyes. "M-mom?"

"Oh Wally!" She said as she hugged Kid Flash as tightly as she could without hurting him. "They tried to save them... they truly did."

"What are you talking about?" Kid Flash asked shakily.

"Your legs. They had to amputate them since they were so scratched up."

Kid Flash's heart instantly stopped. All noise and sounds faded out until it was completely silent. His vision blurred into blackness. His entire body went numb; or what was left of it anyways. The only thing that was left in his world was the pounding in his head and laughter is what it sounded like. Not his; nor his mom's, but a male's.

Suddenly, everything came back into focus. He was no longer in a hospital with his mom crying beside him. He was lying flat out on a cold floor and bleeding from his mouth and nose. A cruel, dark laughter filled the air around him as he slowly set himself up.

"Wally! Thank God you are okay!" Black Canary boomed into Kid Flash's ear; causing him to jump in surprise.

"W-what happened?" Kid Flash's voice cracked as he talked. "And why does m-my head hurt so bad?"

"I'll explain everything to you later. Just stay here until either Batman or I come back to get you. You are in no condition to fight." Black Canary said sternly but sweetly as she ran back out of the room.

Kid Flash nodded and plopped his body back down on the ground to gather and sort his thoughts.


	6. Artemis's POV

Young Artemis woke up when she heard the sound of drawers being opened and closed. Her teddy bear was sitting on the table next to her bed so she grabbed it and got out of bed. She glanced at the clock that read 1:45 AM and rubbed her tired eyes.

"What are you doing?" Artemis asked as she yawned and continued rubbing her eyes.

"I'm leaving… forever." Her big sister answered as she closed the last drawer and zipped up her two purple bags that were on the floor.

"What, why?" Artemis asked as she held tightly to her teddy bear.

"It's every girl for herself in this family." Her big sister shrugged, not really answering her question, as she hopped out of the window, front flipped in mid air and landed on the concrete in front of her house.

Artemis watched her sister disappear into the shadows and started to cry. Her dad must have heard her because he about broke down the door when he entered. Artemis stood up to walk towards him for comfort, but stopped when she looked up to see his face full of hate.

"Daddy?" Artemis asked quietly in fear her dad might yell if she said anything else.

"What's with all the noise up here? Go to sleep! If you wake up your mother, you're in big trouble!" Her dad practically screamed; his face turning bright red.

"But daddy, its-." Artemis started, but was interrupted when her dad raised his hand and smacked her across the face.

She didn't know how to react; he had never done anything like that before. While her eyes swelled with tears, she turned around and climbed into her safe, warm bed. The man stood there, stared at her for another minute, and grunted while slamming the door shut. A picture of a Cheshire cat fell off the wall and a breeze coming from the window picked it up and laid it on Artemis's stomach. She picked it up and hugged it as tight as she could without ripping it.

"Why?" Artemis whispered to herself as she shook her head and closed her eyes tight.

Her room sounded quieter than normal, so Artemis opened her eyes to find that she was now lying on a hardwood floor and appeared to be inside an abandoned apartment.

"Hello?" Artemis called out as she sat up and looked around to check the place out.

She wasn't as young as she was before; maybe fifteen or sixteen now. She was in a white tank top and brown cargo shorts, but had nothing on her feet. The apartment seemed somehow familiar, so she walked around looking for something that she could recognize.

"What are you doing here?" A green figure suddenly jumped out in front of her and asked as she pointed an arrow towards Artemis's chest.

"Who are you?" Artemis wondered out loud, but as soon as the words left her lips, she knew who was standing in front of her. "What happened to you?"

"I grew up. Something you need to do too." She sneered as she lowered her arrow and stuck it in a bag that hung over her shoulder. "I go by Cheshire now."

"Okay 'Cheshire', what am I doing here?" Artemis asked as she crossed her arms. She was done asking question and wanted answers.

"I don't know. You just showed up here a minute ago." Cheshire replied as she narrowed her eyes. "But if I were you, I'd leave right away."

Artemis was about to open her mouth to talk when she heard a knock coming from the door across from her. Cheshire's eyes widen, she grabbed Artemis, and shoved her towards the window. She nodded her head and walked slowly to the door.  
Artemis sat on the ledge outside the window, out of sight, but close enough to listen.

"Dad?" Cheshire asked the person at the door.

"Miss me?" The man chuckled darkly and closed the door. "Where is she?"

"I don't know; I haven't seen her in years." Cheshire replied shakily.

"Don't lie to me. You know I don't like liars." The man responded, followed by a thump.

Artemis jumped when she heard the body hit the floor. A chill went up her spine when she heard her 'dad' laughing again. He sounded like he was getting closer and closer by the second.

"You really think you can outrun me?" The man laughed as he grabbed Artemis by her tank top and dangled her above the busy street below.

"What are y-?" Artemis started but stopped to scream when he let go suddenly and without warning. They were only about seven stories up, so her fall wouldn't be long.

"Help!" Artemis screamed as she was about fall head first on the concrete.

Moments before she was going to hit the ground, she blinked and was now in Belle Rev Prison. Her head clouded with different thoughts, people, and words, but within a minute, she completely forgot what she had on her mind. She looked down to notice that she was in her green costume; one she had never worn outside of her house and had only tried on once before. Her normally long, flowing blonde hair was pulled straight back in a tight ponytail. A shock collar clung to her neck tightly. A group of men walked in across the room from Artemis and sat down at a table.

"Who's the new chick? She's a total hottie." Icicle Jr. asked as he checked Artemis out.

Artemis fueled with anger and turned around to kick him in the face. She managed to gently graze the guy's nose, but she was satisfied. Almost instantly though, her shock collar went off and she fell to the ground. After about ten seconds of it going off, Artemis decided that she couldn't take it anymore.

"Why... isn't it turning off?" Artemis choked out as she grabbed the collar in pain.

"I have the remote." Icicle Jr. smirked as he bent down to Artemis's face and waved the device happily. "I want an apology."

Artemis gritted her teeth, jumped up and grabbed the remote. As soon as she had it in her hand, she broke it in half. She expected the collar to turn off, but it instead became stronger.

"You broke it stupid. Now it'll never turn off. But that's what you get for dissing me." Icicle laughed as he walked back over to the table of thugs and sat back down.

Artemis told herself to remain calm and just breathe, but her body was begging her to lose conscious and go to sleep. She shook her head violently to keep herself awake, but all that did was make her even sleepier. A laugh rang in her ears and she grabbed them to get them to stop. Suddenly, a she felt a hand pick up her head and take the collar off.

"Artemis? You awake?" She heard a soft female voice ask her worriedly.

The pain instantly stopped, and so did the laughing. Artemis shook her head yes. "Black Canary? What's happening to me?"

"Shh, don't worry about it at the moment sweetie." Black Canary answered as she slowly laid Artemis's head back down on the ground. "You're going to be fine. Wait here and I'll come back to you."

Artemis wanted to argue, but decided to obey and stay there to collect her thoughts.


	7. Super Boy's POV

Super Boy woke up when he heard someone tap on glass. He slowly opened his eyes, blinked to adjust his vision, and was taken back in surprise. He was inside a test tube, just like back at Cadmus. There was a short black woman wearing a long red dress that went down to her ankles standing directly in front of him; taping the glass with her long red fingernails every other second. She also had a white coat on covering her arms and held a clipboard with a good amount of papers clipped onto it.

"I can speak you know!" Super Boy yelled with rage.

The woman didn't even register that he had talked, angering him even more.

Super Boy tried to tap back on the glass to show that he was alive, but couldn't move any of his fingers. He tried moving his hands, but was unsuccessful as well. Panic filled his body indicating that something was wrong. As far as he could tell, all he could do was blink and talk.

The woman then quickly wrote down something on her clipboard, tucked it under her arm, and left the room through a dark gray door that closed at the top instead of the bottom. Super Boy rolled his blue eyes to show his aggravation. But suddenly, the top of the tube starting glowing a bright bluish-white, and a red beam scanned his body twice. Darkness surrounded him, and he was beamed to some other destination.

"You will never be my son." Superman said as he narrowed his eyes at his 'son' that stood in front of him.

Super Boy looked into the man's eyes and saw nothing but pure hate. He would rather be back in the tube at the moment.

"Why? What did I ever do to make you hate me?" Super Boy asked desperately as he and Superman argued in front of the whole Justice League and his own teammates.

"You were created." Superman answered and flew off into the night.

The League, as well as his teammates, stood there silently and stared at Super Boy. One by one, starting with Batman, the heroes walked away in different directions.

"Just because I'm a clone doesn't mean that I don't have feelings." Super Boy commented to himself when he was completely alone.

"Oh, I know." A man said as he stepped out of the shadows and smirked at the boy who was standing in front of him.

"Luthor. What do you want?"

"I'm here to make a deal."

"I don't want to hear it."

"Of course you do."

Super Boy eyed the very brave man and nodded so he would continue.

"I would like to give you valuable information that would benefit you greatly." Luthor replied in a business tone, grabbing something out of his jacket pocket and holding it to his side in his hand.

"What's the catch?" Super Boy wanted to know.

Luthor dared a small chuckle. "You give me the secret identity of Superman."

Super boy snorted, but thought about the deal. Superman wasn't anything to him anymore; so why would it matter if his biggest enemy knew his real name?

"Clark, Clark Kent."

"Oh, boy I already knew that." Luthor told him and held up a picture of Clark Kent in his Superman costume and one in a regular suit.

"Then why'd you ask me?" Super Boy was getting angry; but tried his best to hold it in and not embarrass himself even more.

"Just wanted to see if you could be trusted, Super Boy." Luthor retorted as he tossed a vial of something neon green at Super Boy; surrounding him in a green dust cloud.

When the dust cleared up; Super Boy was in the cave and crouched behind a giant rock that wasn't there before. From what he could tell, nothing was around him and it was completely quiet. What was he hiding from? Just then, Sphere rolled in from another room and stopped in front of the boulder. She appeared to be looking for something.

Happy to see a familiar face; well object, he called out to her.

"Sphere, I'm right here!" Super Boy said as he jumped out from behind the rock to show himself.

The Sphere suddenly made a growling type noise and rolled quickly towards Super Boy with much force.

When he realized that he was about to be ran over, he hopped on top of the rock and frowned.

"Girl, it's me, Super Boy!"

A red laser then shot out of the black ball of energy's 'eye' and hit Super Boy in his chest. He fell backwards off the boulder and landed on his head with a loud thud.

Miss Martian saw him fall and ran to Super Boy's side to hold his head in her lap.

"M-Megan?" Super Boy asked as he rubbed his sore head.

The girl suddenly let go of his head, watched it thump onto the ground, and stood up.

"You're just a clone. That's all you will ever be to everybody; including me." Megan said as she crossed her arms and looked in the opposite direction of the boy with the hurt look in his eyes.

"But-" Super Boy started; but was quickly cut off by an angry Martian.

"But nothing! Just because you are a clone of someone real, doesn't me you are! You are not a real person and never will be!" She yelled at the clone as she fled the room.

Super Boy lowered his head, let a few tears escape his glassy blue eyes, and then closed them.

When he opened them eventually; he was no longer in the cave's main room, but inside a cell of some type. He wasn't chained down or anything, but couldn't remember for the life of him how he had gotten in there.

"Hello?" Super Boy called out, not sure what he'd hear back.

A door he hadn't discovered just yet unexpectedly shot open and a blonde woman approached him.

"You're awake?" Black Canary asked surprised, but hugged him tightly before he could respond.

"I just woke up… where am I?"

"Stay here. Batman or I will come back for you shortly." Black Canary said as she let go and stepped back. "Please stay."

Super Boy nodded, but would definitely investigate for himself.

She smiled and headed back out the door.


End file.
